RFID is an emerging technology despite first being used in the 1940's for “friend or foe” air plane identification. (M. R. Riebackm B. Crispo, Pervasive Computing 2006, January—, 62.) They are currently used to track goods, to access secure areas, to pay toll roads, to verify authenticity, and other information services. (M. & C. P. Roy Want, RFID Explained: A Primer on Radio Frequency Identification; First Edit.; 2006; B. Nathm F. Reynoldsm R. Want, IEEE Pervasive Computing 2006, 5, 22) RFID tags that contain a battery are referred to as active RFID tags. Battery-free RFID tags are referred to as passive RFID tags. Passive RFID tags are read by RFID tag readers, which send a radio frequency carrier signal that illuminates the RFID tag antenna creating an AC voltage. (M. & C. P. Roy Want, RFID Explained: A Primer on Radio Frequency Identification; First Edit.; 2006; P. Basl, 2011 The advantages of passive RFID tags are:                Passive tags do not include a battery, giving the device a long lifetime of twenty years or more;        Passive tags are much smaller than active tags. Hitachi's RFID “powder” is 50 μm by 50 μm in size;        Passive tags are typically less expensive than active tags.        
Conventional sensor arrays known as ‘electronic noses’ are composed of arrays of sensors that act independently when exposed to chemical vapours; by analyzing the response of the array using a data analysis algorithm, such as principle component analysis, the chemicals can be identified. (B. J. Dolemanm E. J. Severinm N. S. Lewis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1998, 95, 5442; Y. S. Kimm Y. S. Yangm S. Ham H. Pyom C. A. Choi, October 2005, 27, 585; N. S. Lewis, Accounts of chemical research 2004, 37, 663) Applications of vaporous chemical sensing vary including environmental monitoring, (R. I. Mackiem P. G. Strootm V. H. Varel, Journal of Animal Science 1998, 76, 1331; K. C. Persaudm S. M. Khaffafm P. I. Hobbsm R. W. Sneath, Chemical senses 1996, 21, 495) monitoring of foodstuffs (D. Hodginsm D. Sirnmonds, The Journal of automatic chemistry 1995, 17, 179; H. Searchm C. Journalsm A. Contactm M. Iopsciencem I. P. Address, Pattern Recognition 1993, 1493; M. C. Burlm B. J. Dolemanm A. Schafferm N. S. Lewis, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 2001, 72, 149), crime prevention and security (B. J. Dolemanm E. J. Severinm N. S. Lewis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1998, 95, 5442; S. Maldonadom E. Garcia-Berriosm M. D. Woodkam B. S. Brunschwigm N. S. Lewis, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 2008, 134, 521), and monitoring in the medical field (A. P. Turnerm N. Magan, Nature reviews. Microbiology 2004, 2, 161). Like RFID tags, electronic nose detectors can be reliably used over days, weeks, or months if needed. However, unlike RFID tags, electronic noses are large, costly, require a power source, and cannot be easily integrated into packaging.
Food spoilage occurs as enzymes in bacteria decarboxylize amino acids to form biogenic amines. Biogenic amines are volatile organic substances that make up the toxic component of spoiled food and they are a direct indicator of food spoilage in meat, fish, wine, cheese and other food stuffs (C. Ruiz-Capillas and F. Jiménez-Colmenero, “Biogenic Amines in Meat and Meat Products,” Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, vol. 44, no. 7-8, pp. 489-599, February 2005; R. J. Shakila, “Formation of Histamine and Other Biogenic Amines During Storage of Freshwater Fish Chunks,” Asian Fisheries Science, vol. 15, pp. 1-6, 2002; G. Nouadje, N. Simeon, F. Dedieu, M. Nertz, P. Puig, and F. Couderc, “Determination of twenty eight biogenic amines and amino acids during wine aging by micellar electrokinetic chromatography and laser-induced fluorescence detection,” Journal of Chromatography A, vol. 765, no. 2, pp. 337-343, March 1997; J. Karovičová and Z. Kohajdová, “Biogenic Amines in Food,” Biogenic Amines, vol. 59, no. 1, 2005). Amine identification and quantification is challenging because underivatized amines are difficult to separate in common liquid and gas chromatography columns. Traditional analytical techniques such as gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry are not desirable because samples containing multiple amines must be derivatized to be sufficiently separated. In addition, this technique is costly, time consuming and requires a trained technician.
One emerging approach to performing analysis of volatile substance encompasses attaching an absorbing polymer film to an electronic sensor. This technique uses changes in the electronic properties of polymer sensing film to detect volatile chemicals as they absorb to the polymer film (R. a Potyrailo, A. Leach, W. G. Morris, and S. K. Gamage, “Chemical sensors based on micromachined transducers with integrated piezoresistive readout,” Analytical chemistry, vol. 78, no. 16, pp. 5633-8, August 2006; R. A. Potyrailo, C. Surman, W. G. Morris, T. Wortley, M. Vincent, R. Diana, V. Pizzi, J. Carter, and G. Gach, “Lab-Scale Long-Term Operation of Passive Multivariable RFID Temperature Sensors Integrated Into Single-Use Bioprocess Components,” Sensors (Peterborough, N.H.), pp. 16-19, 2011; I. Willner and E. Katz, “Integrating of Layered Redox Proteins and Conductive Supports for Bioelectronic Applications,” Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), vol. 39, no. 7, pp. 1180-1218, 2000; R. a Potyrailo, “Polymeric sensor materials: toward an alliance of combinatorial and rational design tools?,” Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 702-23, January 2006; H. Yoon, S. H. Lee, O. S. Kwon, H. S. Song, E. H. Oh, T. H. Park, and J. Jang, “Polypyrrole Nanotubes Conjugated with Human Olfactory Receptors: High-Performance Transducers for FET-Type Bioelectronic Noses,” Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), vol. 48, no. 15, pp. 2755-2758, 2009).
Using an impedance analyzer several parameters of the polymer film such as real and imaginary impedance spectra could be measured to identify and quantify different volatile substances. This method has had limited success detecting amines (T. D. Gibson, O. Prosser, J. N. Hulbert, R. W. Marshall, and P. Corcoran, “Detection and simultaneous identification of microorganisms from headspace samples using an electronic nose,” Sensors (Peterborough, N.H.), vol. 44, pp. 413-422, 1997; G. A. Sotzing, J. N. Phend, R. H. Grubbs, and N. S. Lewis, “Highly Sensitive Detection and Discrimination of Biogenic Amines Utilizing Arrays of Polyaniline/Carbon Black Composite Vapor Detectors,” Communications, no. 23, pp. 593-595, 2000; H. Search, C. Journals, A. Contact, M. Iopscience, and I. P. Address, “Performance of an electronic nose for quality estimation of ground meat,” Pattern Recognition, vol. 1493, 1993). Furthermore, this technique requires using expensive Nafion film as the sensing film, needing a network analyzer to perform readings, where readings are position-dependant for analyte quantitation and relying on multivariate statistical analysis methods for identification and quantification.
Several prior art references discussing the use of RFID devices to detect substances include:    Potyrailo et al. (“Battery-free Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Sensors for Food Quality and Safety”, Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 2012, 60, 8535-8543);    Huang et al. (“A Passive Radio-Frequency pH-Sensing Tag for Wireless Food-Quality Monitoring”, in press);    Potyrailo and Morris (“Multianalyte Chemical Identification and Quantitation Using a Single Radio Frequency Identification Sensor”, Analytical Chemistry, 2007, 79, 45-51);    Smits et al. (“Development of Printed RFID Sensor Tags for Smart Food Packaging”, IMCS 2012, 403-406);    U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0304741; and    International Application Publication No. WO00/20852.
There exists a long felt need for a cost effective, sensitive and easy-to-use RFID device for the detection and quantitation of volatile substances including biogenic amines.